Free Knowledge Culture Calendar/February 15

Today in 1995 was the high-profile arrest of Kevin Mitnick. After being mistreated by the judiciary following an earlier arrest, he disappeared and was on the run for two and a half years. In a world that had become afraid of hackers, his judge was convinced that he could start a nuclear war from a phone. After years of imprisonment without trial or bail hearing, beatings and months of solitary confinement, he was convicted of computer and wire fraud and received a sentence that was higher than that of many killers.